Head’s General Store / St. Albans

The Lewis & Clark expedition made a stop close to present day St. Albans in 1804. It is said that General Lewis nearly slipped and fell down a cliff, but was quick to react and saved himself. St. Albans was first settled in 1834 (back when it was first called ‘Tavern Creek’ because it was near Tavern Rock Cave). Germans decided to make a home here due to its closeness to the Missouri River. It was finally named St. Albans in 1837. The general store was built in 1892 for the people of the village to get their goods. It still stands today, and it was nearly destroyed by flood waters, notably the Great Flood of ’93. The river was at one time across from the store, but it was moved and redug by workers. A lake sits there now.

Head’s General Store was originally known as ‘the St. Albans General Store’, but was renamed after a longtime owner, Mae Pfeiffer Head, whose family bought it in 1915. She passed away in 2004. Recently, the store was purchased by the Sehnert family (which also owns Annie Gunn’s and the Smokehouse Market in Chesterfield). They now serve Pappy’s Smokehouse barbecue on the weekends.

The cake in front of the store!

Cake placement date: April 4

Where is the cake now?: The cake still sits outside the store. According to employees of the store, they have had numerous requests from people if they wanted to buy the cake. Needless to say, this cake is for keeps! (April 2017)